Comparative Criticism: What Is It and Why Do We Do It?

In this seminar, Marcela Sulak (Bar Ilan University) and Adriana X. Jacobs (Oriental Studies) will explore the possibility of translation as “afterlife” through a discussion of the Hebrew poets Orit Gidali and Hezy Leskly. Marcela Sulak’s talk is entitled “Translating Ghosts and Unborn Souls: When Love Poetry is Political”. Adriana X. Jacobs talk is “Hezy Leskly’s Zombie Memories”.

Looking specifically at Modern Greek, Polish, Dutch, and Swedish, this event interrogates what it means to translate and publish marginalised and minor European languages into English. Translations from French, German and Spanish (and more recently, non-European giants such as Arabic and Chinese) dominate the contemporary literary scene. Arranged in a “conversazione” format, four translators discuss what it means to assert and champion the forgotten voices of minor and marginalised European languages. With Peter Mackridge (Oxford); Antonia Lloyd-Jones; Paul Vincent (UCL); Sarah Death Chair: Kasia Szymanska (Oxford).

With Adriana X. Jacobs (Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature), Kasia Szymanska (Junior Research Fellow in Slavonic Studies, University College), chaired by Kate Costello (DPhil candidate in Twentieth-Century Chinese Literature). In Michaelmas 2016 the OCCT Discussion Group will follow a new format: we’ll be focussing on key issues in the methodology of comparative study. The sessions will begin with a short conversation between two senior members moderated by a graduate representative, followed by a discussion of the recommended readings. We hope to encourage graduates to think about their research within a comparative context, and contribute to creating a vibrant OCCT graduate community.

With Professor Ben Morgan (Professor of German) and Peter Hill (Junior Research Fellow in Arabic Literature, Christ Church College), chaired by Karoline Watroba (DPhil candidate in German and Comparative Criticism).

Matthew Reynolds and Mohamed-Salah Omri discuss comparative literary criticism. Chaired by Valeria Taddei. Matthew Reynolds, Professor of English and Comparative Criticism, Mohamed-Salah Omri, Professor of Modern Arabic Language and Literature and Valeria Taddei, DPhil candidate in Italian and Comparative Literature.

Laura Lonsdale (Queen's College, Oxford): 'Barbarisms: Multilingualism and Modernity in Narratives of the Spanish- speaking World’. Respondent: Jane Hiddleston (French/Oxford)

Peter Garratt (Durham): ‘Mind Bloat and The Lifted Veil’ Helen Small (English/Oxford): 'On the Verification of Mental Experience'. Chaired by Ben Morgan.

Joyelle McSweeney (University of Notre Dame), Johannes Göransson (University of Notre Dame), Dr Adriana X. Jacobs (Oriental Institute), give a talk for the OCCT Translation and Criticism strand.

Cultural journalist and a writer.Antonio Armano in conversation with Valentina Gosetti. Conversation with Antonio Armano, a cultural journalist and a writer. He was the editor of Saturno, and he regularly contributes to Italian national newspapers and magazines, including Il Fatto Quotidiano, and Treccani.it. He is the author of Maledizioni. Processi, sequestri, censure a scrittori e editori in Italia dal dopoguerra a oggi, anzi domani (Aragno 2013, BUR, 2014), which was shortlisted for the Viareggio prize in 2014. This lunch conversation was held in Italian and English and focused on the contemporary history of censorship in literature, mainly after WWII, which is also the subject of Antonio Armano’s book. This is a history that goes beyond the Italian context, and that Italy shares with many other western countries.

Ekphrasis finds words for paintings and other visual phenomena; translation finds words for other words. But how secure in this distinction, given that language has visual form, and that the visual arts can employ language-like elements? This seminar explores the interplay between translation and ekphrasis.